Amputation Malpractice

Comprised of formidable and experienced litigators, STSW’s Medical Malpractice / Wrongful Death team is led by two of the region’s most accomplished trial lawyers, Andrew G. Slutkin and Jamison G. White. Mr. Slutkin and Mr. White personally investigate and litigate each case, ensuring that STSW discovers the truth and that our clients receive the compensation to which they are entitled. Throughout the course of their combined 40+ years of litigation experience, Mr. Slutkin and Mr. White have routinely obtained high dollar verdicts and settlements for clients who have experienced the unnecessary amputation of a limb due to a medical mistake. If you or a loved one has suffered the loss of a limb due to medical malpractice, call our team for a free consultation at 410-385-2225.

Coming to grips with a decision to amputate a limb is a heartbreaking one that is all too often compounded when the physician or medical team performing the procedure or recommending the procedure makes a medical mistake resulting in the amputation of the wrong limb. Although it seems incredulous to suggest, wrong-site amputations occur more commonly in the United States each year than you might expect. This medical negligence generally falls into one of five categories: (1) human error in removing the wrong limb; (2) mistakes made intra-operatively during a procedure for another reason; (3) failure to appropriately stop the spread of infection; (4) failure to recognize an adverse /allergic reaction to medications such as Heparin; and (5) human error in a pre-operative diagnosis.

Despite state-of-the-art advancements in how to appropriately document what part of the body is to be operated on pre-operatively, and then double and triple check that fact in the operating room with the patient prior to the operation, episodes of human error still occur. In short, the errors usually begin with the simple erroneous recordation of the limb to be removed (right vs. left). This information is then relayed to individuals in the operating room who mark the patient’s limb to be removed. Although patients are supposed to be part of the “limb identification” process, they are often mistakenly not asked to verify what the health care providers have assumed is accurate. A second cause of erroneous amputations occurs when health care providers are operating on a limb during an operation and make a mistake during that procedure that results in the need to amputate that limb (when that was never the plan all along). A third example of amputation error occurs when the physician is aware of the presence of an infection such as gangrene, attempts to remove the infected tissue or bone and stop the infection, but does so negligently, allowing for the continued spread of infection and ultimate need to amputate the limb. A fourth example occurs in the setting of a known patient allergy to a particular medication, i.e., a patient’s allergy to Heparin a blood thinner. A small percentage of patients who receive Heparin develop what is known as Heparin Induced Thrombocytopenia (“HIT”), a condition in which the patient’s blood will actually begin to clot immediately upon the introduction of Heparin into their bloodstream. The end result is the cessation of blood flow to the limb or limbs and the death of the surrounding tissue, leading to amputation or even worse, death. Finally, amputation errors can occur in the pre-operative setting, again due to human error. The most common type of error that our office sees in this setting is one in which the physician negligently diagnoses a patient with cancer in a limb and advises the removal of that limb. Post-operatively when the tissue from that limb is examined by a pathologist, it is discovered that the physician negligently diagnosed the patient with cancer, when in fact he/ she did not have cancer. In short, the procedure to remove the limb was unnecessary.

We serve the following Maryland localities: Baltimore City Circuit Court including Patapsco, Wabash and North Avenue Courts; Baltimore County Circuit court including Towson, Catonsville and Essex Courts; Anne Arundel County Circuit Court including Annapolis and Glen Burnie Courts; Harford County Circuit Court including Bel Air; Howard County Circuit Court including Columbia and Ellicott City; Prince George's County including Hyattsville and Upper Marlboro Courts; Montgomery County including Rockville and Silver Spring courts; all Maryland federal courts including both Baltimore and Greenbelt, the Maryland Court of Appeals and Court of Special Appeals in Annapolis and Washington DC.